Anthrax began as an average posthardcore thrash band but eventually developed its own distinct sound by blending rap's street sense with heavy metal's brute force. The band hit a career height in 1991 when it joined forces with rap group Public Enemy for a recording and video of the latter's rallying cry, "Bring the Noise." Two years later the band inked a reported $10 million, five-album deal with Elektra.
Anthrax hit New York City's postpunk metal scene in 1981 when Bayside, Queens, native Scott Ian, still in his teens, formed the band along with friends Neil Turbin and former Overkill guitarist Dan Spitz. The group literally began following managers Johnny and Marsha Zazula, heads of the independent metal label Megaforce Records, around the city. Eventually the couple signed the band and began directing its career. By album number three, Anthrax had landed on Island, and its cult following had begun to expand. The I'm the Man, sold platinum and hinted at Anthrax's growing social consciousness in songs such as "Indians" and "One World."
One of the few heavy-metal-oriented bands to get consistently high critical marks, Anthrax —along with Metallica and Megadeth —redefined the metal genre in the '80s, stressing anger, speed, and emotional intensity over big hair and power ballads. The band flirted with funk and rap rhythms, a sound that peaked with "Bring the Noise." Anthrax adjusted its style after replacing longtime lead singer Joey BellaDonna with L.A. native and ex–Armored Saint singer John Bush in 1992. Bush, a more traditional, smooth-voiced vocalist, gave the group a slicker sound, though the basic speed-metal foundation remained. The band signed a much-publicized $10 million contract with Elektra, but left the label after just two albums.
By 1995's Stomp 442, lead guitarist Spitz had departed the group, which remained as a four-piece. Drummer Charlie Benante began dabbling on lead guitar during the recording. Guitarist Scott Ian was arrested in 1998 (though the charges were later dropped) after breaking into a New York Yankees training facility.
Vol. 8 —The Threat Is Real (#118, 1998) included guest appearances by the likes of Pantera's Phil Anselmo and Dimebag Darrell, joining forces to celebrate the return of hard, hard rock at the end of the '90s. The most popular songs from the band's first two decades were gathered for Return of the Killer A's in 1999, setting in motion plans for both singers BellaDonna and Bush to lead an Anthrax tour in 2000. BellaDonna withdrew from the tour shortly before it began.
During the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, the band altered its website to provide information about the disease after people began simply typing anthrax.com into their browsers. Amid what could have become a PRnightmare for the band, Anthrax issued a press release on October 10, 2001, that jokingly mentioned that they were going to change the name of the band to "something more friendly, like 'Basket Full of Puppies'." They later sank all name-change rumors that erupted from the press release at the New York Steel 9/11 benefit concert in November 2001, when they took the stage wearing boiler suits with a different word on each one that spelled out the sentence "WE'RE NOT CHANGING OUR NAME". A picture of the band wearing the suits can be seen on the inner tray card of We've Come for You All.
Despite the hardships and various legal entanglements regarding who had the rights to certain albums, Anthrax managed to continue. In 2001, new lead guitarist Rob Caggiano joined, and two years later, the band released We've Come for You All, through Sanctuary Records—an album hailed by the metal press as a return to form. In early 2004, the band returned to the studio to record The Greater of Two Evils—a "live in the studio" re-recording of the band's early work with the then-current lineup. Shortly afterward, bassist Frank Bello announced he was leaving the band to join Helmet and was replaced for touring purposes by Fates Warning and Armored Saint member Joey Vera.
Among the Living reunion (2005–2007)
On April 1, 2005, the band announced that the "classic" lineup of Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Dan Spitz, Joey Belladonna, and Frank Bello would be reforming. On some dates of the resultant tour, they performed Among the Livingin its entirety for the first time. At the conclusion of the tour, it was expected the reformed line-up would begin a new album, but on January 24, 2007, Scott Ian posted a message to Blabbermouth.net,
"Finally, we're going back to work. We're going to Chicago to work our asses off and write a record. [...] One problem... no singer. We were offered a direct support slot on a major tour this spring and Joey [Belladonna] decided he did not want to move forward. The reunion is over. We tried to make it work but I guess that's the problem, you can't 'make' something work. [...] My curiosity was piqued by the idea of what Anthrax would sound like now with Joey singing. Over the last few months we've discussed this endlessly to no avail. The problems that were there could not be fixed no matter how hard we tried and in the end Joey made the decision."
Following that announcement, speculation was cast over whether John Bush would return. Bush had stated on February 7 that he was not ready to commit to Anthrax again. In May 2007, Scott Ian said that the announcement of who will be singing for Anthrax would be made at the end of June, though the actual announcement did not come until December. In June 2007, Bush was interviewed by Rock Hard about being asked to return to Anthrax, and whether or not he was bitter about the reunion. He replied:
"No. Bitter is not the way I wanna be about anything. I'm not bitter at all. There was probably not a perfect way to do that, what they did. It was like, how are they gonna say...? I mean, they asked me to do it—the tour with Joey—and it just wasn't right for me, I couldn't do it. So, whatever...if they felt they had to do that, I understand. It wasn't like I was going, 'Yeah, do it. That's great.' But once it happened, I was like, 'okay.' It was like a book ended. It's okay. I mean, it's much better to look at it that way than to be angry or frustrated, 'cause I really don't feel that way."
When asked if he was approached to rejoin the band once Belladonna left the group, Bush said,
"I was asked to write, and it just wasn't right for me. I couldn't go back and say, 'Here I am...' It would be like coming in with my tail between my legs, and that's not right for me. I just couldn't do that. It just didn't feel right to do that. It was about soul, your gut. How does that feel? Does it feel right? Good enough. Sold. Answer."
Dan Nelson era (2007–2009)
On December 10, 2007, it was announced the band's new vocalist would be Dan Nelson, formerly of Devilsize. Around the same time, it was confirmed that Rob Caggiano would return as lead guitarist.
On May 28, 2008 Anthrax played their first show in 19 months at The Double Door in Chicago. Appearing for the first time with Nelson, the band played new material which was well received by the sold-out crowd despite some equipment problems. Anthrax then played in South Korea for the first time on August 17, 2008.
In his monthly Food Coma column, which was posted on December 22, 2008, Anthrax's Scott Ian revealed that he'd "been in the studio working on the new Anthrax album since November 4." Ian went on to say that drums, bass and rhythm had been laid down on a total of 19 tracks, and that the process of laying down vocals had begun. "We should be mixing at the end of January and soon after that giving birth to a really pissed off, loud, fast and heavy child." In a subsequent May 2009 Food Coma column, Scott announced that the album was being mixed by Dave Fortman whose previous credits include both of Evanescence's multi-platinum selling albums and Slipknot's album All Hope Is Gone. In a post to the Anthrax website, Charlie Benante stated that "Worship Music should be out in May".
On Saturday March 7, 2009 Anthrax played Bogota, Colombia for the first time in their career, opening for Iron Maiden. Then, on July 21, 2009 manager Izvor Zivkovic confirmed the departure of Dan Nelson, due to illness. Nelson has since denied this, saying:
"I was never seriously ill or sick at all, as reported in Anthrax’s July 17, 2009 press release. This extremely inflammatory statement hurt me tremendously. This statement misled fans, friends and family members into believing that I was seriously ill when I was not. I was not aware such a statement was being issued and it came as a total shock to me, as I’m sure it did to all of you. It was the other band members’ decision to cancel the tour dates, not mine. I was ready, willing and able to do my job. After issuing the press release the other band members decided, on their own accord, that I had 'resigned' from the band. I never resigned from the band.".
Reunion with John Bush (2009–2010)
All following performances were canceled, except the UK Sonisphere Festival in August 2009, with John Bush performing vocals. Due to the overwhelming fan response following his performance, a 'Bring Back Bush' campaign was set up and subsequently endorsed by Scott Ian.
On September 3, 2009, it was announced that John Bush would be yet again singing with Anthrax at the Loud Park '09 Festival in Japan on October 17. Anthrax with John Bush also took part in the February 2010, 5-show touring Soundwave 2010 festival in Australia. Soon after, Benante said that the band is "in the process of regrouping with [Bush]. We played two shows with him, and we are looking forward to proceeding with this lineup." In late 2009, Anthrax confirmed a "Big 4" event (with Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer) as part of the 2010 Sonisphere festival. This was the first time that all four 'Big 4 of thrash metal' bands played together.
In an interview with metalsucks.com John Bush said,
"we just did these shows in Australia that were really fun. They were for the Soundwave Festival, and they were great. I had committed to doing these shows to these four shows in June as well as more festivals in August. As of now we’re trying to figure out a way to see if we can re-record some of the songs that the band had already recorded [for Worship Music]. We’re just trying to iron out some of the legalities on it. That’s where we are at today."
When asked if he would be re-recording some of Dan Nelson’s vocals he stated
"That is what they want to do, and it’s been a conflict for me, to be quite frank, simply because I kind of felt like I wasn’t part of the creation of it. On all the other Anthrax records, I was part of it when it happened. I just wasn’t involved in this, and it’s something that they’ve already actually completed. I haven’t disregarded it completely, and I know it’s important to them. I realize they made this record and they’re kind of sitting on it. They want to put some of it out, if not everything… at least a single, and we’ve talked about [releasing] an EP. We’re still trying to figure out if we can do that, especially in conjunction with these shows in June. We’ve just got to kind of iron out some specifics. That’s where we’re at today, March 15, 2010."
Bush ultimately decided that he did not want to commit to the band full-time, and was again out of Anthrax by early 2010.
Reunion with Joey Belladonna and Worship Music (2010–2013)
In early 2010 Joey Belladonna returned to Anthrax for shows in the summer of 2010 as well as committing to the band for Worship Music. Anthrax, along with Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth performed on the same bill for the first time on June 16, 2010 at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland. It was the first date of that summer's Sonisphere Festival series. The show in Sofia, Bulgaria on June 22, 2010, was sent via satellite in HD to cinemas and later released on DVD and Blu-ray. They also went on to play in Jonschwil, Switzerland (June 18, 2010), Milovice (Nymburk District), Czech Republic (June 19, 2010), Athens, Greece (June 24, 2010), Bucharest, Romania (June 26, 2010) and then in Istanbul, Turkey (June 27, 2010), Stockholm, Sweden (August 7, 2010), and last in Pori, Finland (August 8, 2010) also as part of the Sonisphere Festival.
On June 24, 2011 Anthrax released the song "Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't" from the upcoming album on their website. It was released as a free download as a way to thank their fans for their loyalty in waiting several years for Worship Music. The album was subsequently released on September 13. On April 30, 2011, Anthrax headlined in the Philippines for the first time in the annual Pulp Summer Slam along with Death Angel, Hellyeah and UAE's heavy metal band Nervecell. Anthrax also headlined the Jägermeister side stage atMayhem Festival 2012, which was co-headlined by Slayer and Slipknot.
Recent events and next album (2013–present)
On January 4, 2013, Anthrax announced that lead guitarist Rob Caggiano had left the band stating: "Rob has been an integral part of Anthrax for so many years, as our lead guitarist, in a production capacity, but most of all, as our close friend. His contributions to the band have been enormous. While we are sad that he is leaving, we wish him nothing but great success going forward, and hope to share the stage with him again sometime down the road." A week later, it was announced that Jonathan Donais of Shadows Fallwould become the band's touring lead guitarist, and on August 13, it was announced that Donais had become an official member of the band.[
On March 19 in North America and March 22 in Europe, the band released the Anthems EP, featuring several covers of mainly 1970s songs played by the band. According to Scott Ian, the band are set to start working on their next studio album in late 2013. On September 14, 2013, Ian confirmed on his Twitter profile that drummer Charlie Benante and bassist Frank Bello were "coming over to start writing for the next record." The album is expected to be released in the summer of 2014.